Texts vocab profiled

the information revolution will transform education
a
schools usually reflect the societies in which they are in take the example of america number years ago people only needed a little learning from books because most people still lived a simple life based on farming school started quite late in the day and ended early to leave time for the jobs students did for their families in summer school stopped so children could help their parents in the fields there were only a few subjects controlled largely by the teacher and the aim was on developing basic skills

in that world the one room schoolhouse was enough teachers taught reading writing and simple mathematics to help with the skills students learned outside school since only few students went as far as high school the need for higher levels of education like college and university was very small

by the late numbers more and more people were moving to cities and going to work in factories to teach students the basic skills and simple facts they needed for jobs in factories the first great revolution in schooling took place the factory school model appeared schools were very big with many classrooms where students sat in neat rows with the teacher in front schools aimed at producing students with exactly the same types of skills students learned enough to work at jobs in factories that they would probably keep for most of their lives today many students still attend factory model schools

much of the day is spent only listening to lectures many classes teach skills for jobs that either no longer exist or will not exist when students grow up it is clear that this type of schooling is not enough for the modern world only about number percent of working people now work in factories or on farms people graduating from high school or college will average six to eight jobs over their careers many of them requiring skills they do not know about yet about half of all employed americans work with information studying information that already exists generating new information storing and retrieving information soon a major part of this group will not even work in an office but at home most people agree that this new way of life needs a new type of education

in this new kind of school all students will need to reach much higher standards of learning because everyone will have to be able to think to get a good job people will also have to be able to learn many new skills from when they are young to when they are older this new type of education will increase the links between students and their communities the timing and location of education will also be more flexible to suit and take advantage of changes in the workplace students will be expected to learn inside schools and outside of them too




technology and the new model of learning and teaching

technology is changing the world and with it education it offers many new ways of learning of teaching and of running schools it provides new ways for everyone in education to communicate openly with parents communities and students



yet technology by itself is clearly not enough traditional schools have pushed individual performance and competition and have tried to stop students from working or even talking together in the new model of school the skills needed in today workplace such as critical thinking teamwork compromise and communication are important classroom experiences



this model of education means that students teachers and schools will need to change the way they work in the new model of school students do many of the things that teachers did in the past in small groups individual students help each other because they are often the ones who know most about new technologies like the internet students lead by example helping their classmates work on problems in this way students begin learning from an early age how to communicate and how to take on greater responsibility for their own education


in the past teachers were the bank of all knowledge but in the new model they act as guides who help students move through the information that technology makes available they help students collect and organize information decide on its value and decide how to present it to others moving from group to group and from student to student teachers help students stay focused and working at the limits of their abilities



a new model of education



in this new model of school education looks different than it does in most schools today schools might be open all day and all year with groups of students coming in and out of classes classrooms might have students of different ages traditional number minute classes will become longer or disappear to suit activities made possible by technology longer projects will include different subjects bringing together information that was covered before in different classes



schools could be found in unlikely places such as office buildings or more traditional schools may have classrooms connected to businesses hospitals or homes secondary schools may make new links with colleges and community institutions to make the move from school to work easier individual classes will be connected to workplaces providing job training that is far better and more useful than what is offered today technologies used at home will share lesson plans homework and tests both with students and their parents



the end goal of this new model of education is to encourage groups of lifelong learners where thinking and co-operation is seen as very important within these communities decisions will be made by those in the best position to make them by students teachers and educational administrators




digital natives digital immigrants
by marc prensky



today students are not just very different from those of the past nor simply changed their slang clothes body adornments or styles as has happened between generations previously a really big change has taken place an event which changes things so fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back this change is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the number century



today students through college represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology they have spent their whole lives surrounded by and using computers videogames digital music players video cams cell phones and all the other toys and tools of the digital age today average college grads have spent less than number number hours of their lives reading but over number number hours playing video games not to mention number number hours watching tv computer games email the internet cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives



it is now clear that as a result of this today students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors these differences go far further and deeper than most educators suspect or realize different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures says dr bruce perry of baylor college of medicine as we shall see in the next installment it is very likely that our students brains have physically changed and are different from ours as a result of how they grew up but whether or not this is literally true we can say with certainty that their thinking patterns have changed i will get to how they have changed in a minute



what should we call these new students of today some refer to them as the for net gen or for digital gen but the most useful designation i have found for them is digital natives our students today are all native speakers of the digital language of computers video games and the internet



so what does that make the rest of us those of us who were not born into the digital world but have at some later point in our lives become fascinated by and adopted many or most aspects of the new technology are and always will be compared to them digital immigrants



the importance of the distinction is this as digital immigrants learn like all immigrants some better than others to adapt to their environment they always retain to some degree their foot in the past this can be seen in such things as turning to the internet for information second rather than first or in reading the manual for a program rather than assuming that the program itself will teach us to use it today older folk were socialized differently from their kids and are now in the process of learning a new language and a language learned later in life scientists tell us goes into a different part of the brain



this is obvious to the digital natives school often feels pretty much as if we have brought in a population of heavily accented unintelligible foreigners to lecture them they often can not understand what the immigrants are saying what does dial a number mean anyway



lest this perspective appear radical rather than just descriptive let me highlight some of the issues digital natives are used to receiving information really fast they like to parallel process and multi task they prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite they prefer random access like hypertext they function best when networked they thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards they prefer games to serious work does any of this sound familiar



but digital immigrants typically have very little appreciation for these new skills that the natives have acquired and perfected through years of interaction and practice these skills are almost totally foreign to the immigrants who themselves learned and so choose to teach slowly step by step one thing at a time individually and above all seriously my students just do not like they used to digital immigrant educators grouse i can not get them to or to they have no appreciation for or fill in the blanks there are a wide variety of choices



digital immigrants do not believe their students can learn successfully while watching tv or listening to music because they the immigrants can not of course not they did not practice this skill constantly for all of their formative years digital immigrants think learning can not or should not be fun why should they they did not spend their formative years learning with sesame street



digital immigrant teachers assume that learners are the same as they have always been and that the same methods that worked for the teachers when they were students will work for their students now but that assumption is no longer valid today&#number learners are different



so what should happen should the digital native students learn the old ways or should their digital immigrant educators learn the new unfortunately no matter how much the immigrants may wish it it is highly unlikely the digital natives will go backwards in the first place it may be impossible their brains may already be different it also flies in the face of everything we know about cultural migration kids born into any new culture learn the new language easily and forcefully resist using the old smart adult immigrants accept that they do not know about their new world and take advantage of their kids to help them learn and integrate not so smart or not so flexible immigrants spend most of their time grousing about how good things were in the old country



so unless we want to just forget about educating digital natives until they grow up and do it themselves we had better confront this issue and in so doing we need to reconsider both our methodology and our content

first our methodology today teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students this does not mean changing the meaning of what is important or of good thinking skills but it does mean going faster less step by step more in parallel with more random access among other things educators might ask but how do we teach logic in this fashion while it is not immediately clear we do need to figure it out
second our content it seems to me that after the digital singularity there are now two kinds of content legacy content to borrow the computer term for old systems and future content legacy content includes reading writing arithmetic logical thinking understanding the writings and ideas of the past etc all of our traditional curriculum it is of course still important but it is from a different era some of it such as logical thinking will continue to be important but some perhaps like euclidean geometry will become less so as did latin and greek future content is to a large extent not surprisingly digital and technological but while it includes software hardware robotics nanotechnology genomics etc it also includes the ethics politics sociology languages and other things that go with them this future content is extremely interesting to today students but how many digital immigrants are prepared to teach it someone once suggested to me that kids should only be allowed to use computers in school that they have built themselves it is a brilliant idea that is very doable from the point of view of the students&#number capabilities but who could teach it


as educators we need to be thinking about how to teach both legacy and future content in the language of the digital natives the first involves a major translation and change of methodology the second involves all that plus new content and thinking it is not actually clear to me which is harder learning new stuff or learning new ways to do old stuff i suspect it is the latter



we need to invent digital native methodologies for all subjects at all levels using our students to guide us the process has already begun i know college professors inventing games for teaching subjects ranging from math to engineering to the spanish inquisition we need to find ways of publicizing and spreading their successes



a frequent objection i hear from digital immigrant educators is this approach is great for facts but it would not work for my subject number nonsense this is just rationalization and lack of imagination in my talks i now include thought experiments where i invite professors and teachers to suggest a subject or topic and i attempt on the spot to invent a game or other digital native method for learning it classical philosophy create a game in which the philosophers debate and the learners have to pick out what each would say



it is just dumb and lazy of educators not to mention ineffective to presume that despite their traditions the digital immigrant way is the only way to teach and that the digital natives&#number language is not as capable as their own of encompassing any and every idea

so if digital immigrant educators really want to reach digital natives i all their students they will have to change it is high time for them to stop their moaning and as the nike motto of the digital native generation says just do it they will succeed in the long run and their successes will come that much sooner if their administrators support them





are today students different
are today students different usually when a discussion starts about digital natives digital immigrants prensky number generation next kohut parker keeter doherty dimock number or the digital generation montgomery number i tend to change the focus of the conversation from these labels to the needs of learners and research based tried and tested strategies that have resulted in positive learning outcomes i often do this because i find such labels problematic it is important to recognize that a digital divide dickard schneider number exists and is more pervasive than many might like to even consider and i am not convinced learners are really any different it is our society that is and the tools with which we have to work and communicate that are different



another challenge with assigning labels to learners today whether they were born digital palfrey gasser number or not is that these terms and their meanings do not accurately represent every person that might fall into such categories these terms are full of assumptions and biases that can seriously cloud an instructor and employer perception of an individual vaidhyanathan number has written an article in the chronicle of higher education that raises a similar argument as he notes



talk of a digital generation or people who are born digital ignores the vast range of skills knowledge and experience of many parts of society it ignores the needs and perspectives of those young people who are not socially or financially privileged it presumes equal access to resources time knowledge skills and technologies the ethnic national gender and class biases of any sort of generation talk are troubling and they are especially the case when discussing assumptions about digital media vaidhyanathan number paragraph number



therefore it is important for educators at all levels and employers and instructional designers as well to recognize that while some individuals might fit the characteristics of various labels it is critical to recognize that an individual is indeed an individual and unfounded assumptions should not be made about him or her in a virtual distance learning environment this takes on even greater importance considering one does not have the opportunity for face to face interactions as one would in a normal setting



while i am not convinced that learners today are different i accept that it is possible that interactions with technology and technology influence on brain development might actually have effects which we have not discovered or understood yet for example research on number adults shows that regular use of the internet by these individuals created double the amount of activity in their brains when compared to individuals who used the internet irregularly interlandi number even so it is important to remember that research in this area is new therefore any generalizations about the implications and effects of digital technologies on the human brain without more research on larger populations and populations with different backgrounds is simply premature



shifting the focus on students and their needs



whether one agrees with the idea that students today are different or not it is imperative that educators employers and instructional designers shift their focus from how students today might be different to how should i design instruction to meet the needs of my target audience and what do i need to change to meet the needs of my learners this does not mean adding gimmicks the latest technology or other bells and whistles to keep learners attention or just to seem current or innovative rather it means making thoughtful informed decisions about how to engage learners in the process of learning accepting learners for who they are understanding learners strengths and weaknesses helping them build on their strengths and diminish their weaknesses and capitalizing on their neomillenial learning styles dede number it means putting learning and learners first reflecting on what works and what does not and changing instruction to meet the diverse needs of one target audience and not blaming individuals for being different than students one might have had number years ago



new technologies will continue to challenge our assumptions about teaching and learning not only for distance education but also for face to face and blended hybrid learning environments are today learners different i do not think so until proven otherwise but the digital tools available today for learning teaching and communicating are just think numerous technologies available as this article goes to press did not even exist a few years ago





the digital divide
according to some the development of information and communications technology is increasing the gap between the rich and the poor those with knowledge and those without the information rich and the information poor instead of closing the divide the introduction of more ict further increases social and economic divides not only between rich and poor countries but also among various socioeconomic groups within countries


others argue that ict decreases the divide by involving countries in the global economy and providing them access to global knowledge and information for development nonetheless there are stark differences in access across the world according to gender geography i urban versus rural income education age occupation and even ethnicity and race the groups with the greatest access to new information and communications technology are generally well educated high income urban males poor illiterate females in rural areas are least likely to have access to ict


the digital divide in education


the global dimensions of the digital divide are most clearly seen in education at the beginning of the twenty first century many industrialized countries had begun to gear up their education systems for the knowledge economy by making major investments in computers for classrooms in networking their schools and in training teachers to use technology in their teaching thus in the united states the ratio of students to instructional computers reached five to one and number percent of schools were connected to the internet in the united kingdom the ratio of students to computers was twelve to one in primary school and seven to one in secondary school while access to the internet was virtually universal as it was in the european union as a whole


in contrast most of the developing countries with few exceptions were more concerned with very difficult educational issues low primary and secondary school enrollments inadequately trained teachers little or no access to textbooks and ineffective school management rather than with improving ict the exceptions were a small number of countries in asia latin america and other parts of the developing world that began introducing computers in classrooms networking schools and developing digital content to address the educational requirements of the global knowledge economy


education and technology in the balance


does access to computers and the internet give the education systems of industrialized countries an advantage over those in developing countries

while there has been good progress in providing access to ict in schools and universities in industrialized countries the expected benefits to education as noted have been difficult to measure number increasing productive teaching and learning number transforming teaching and learning from traditional textbook lessons to more learner friendly student centered approaches that use powerful interactive tools and methods and number equipping students with higher order thinking and problem solving skills that prepare them for life in an information based society and workplace


the experience of the industrialized countries would suggest that access to the internet and the wealth of knowledge and information it provides does not automatically lead to measurable improvements in the quality of teaching and learning in schools rather such improvements are the result of parallel efforts to enhance the teaching and learning process by training teachers reducing class size making textbooks available and establishing standards of learning nonetheless it is obvious that school systems everywhere and especially in the developing countries need to find ways of providing more students with regular and frequent access to information and communications technology and to enable students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to support a knowledge economy




bridging the digital divide
the developing countries face massive challenges in bridging the digital divide in education what are these challenges and is progress possible in order to bridge the digital divide in education developing countries will first need to overcome the key constraints to the development of ict in general too often programs fail to address the problems in an effective way this would involve the improvement of information infrastructure and a reduction in internet costs in developing countries leading to a broadening of the information society there and for more widespread and cost effective use of new technologies to improve education


even with the best of intentions however achieving these goals will not be easy for developing countries they lack both the money and the technical knowhow to overcome infrastructure and human resource limitations


many feel that advances in technology will help bridge the digital divide between industrial and developing countries overall the spread of internet access is expected to be rapid in the first decade of the twenty first century indeed access to information over the internet is already being greatly increased around the world the development of wireless telecommunications is also expected to facilitate access to the internet in remote rural areas where telephone service has been unavailable and above all computers are likely to become both pervasive and affordable not just on the desk top and as handheld appliances but embedded in intelligent objects everywhere


while access to computers and telecommunications networks is necessary to bridge the digital divide access alone is not sufficient to ensure that education systems in developing countries benefit from the internet revolution the governments of these countries also need to number train teachers and trainers to exploit the potential of learning technologies number offer free or inexpensive internet access to schools number foster capacity to develop content and instructional resources in their own language number build networks and well maintained facilities for both accessing knowledge and providing affordable lifelong learning and skill upgrading and number preserve the freedom of teachers and students to explore the myriad educational resources on the web without filtering and censorship such as that which exists in china saudi arabia iran and other countries


both industrialized and developing countries must also seek to address the digital divide between rich and poor the united states has made significant progress in bridging the gap although there are still considerable problems especially in instructional practice that is in how effectively modern learning technologies are being used with different groups of students in the developing countries public policies to promote competition which lowers prices and improves quality and to make new technologies more accessible will ultimately influence availability and adoption of technology and access however special community based programs by governments and nongovernmental organizations involving marginalized or rural communities women and minorities are also essential for bridging the digital divide




closing the digital divide
tony cox host while the world wide web has sped up the global pace of communication not everyone is up to speed it is called the digital divide and it describes the gap between those who have significant access to the internet and those who do not


former president bill clinton sought to address the digital future during his time in office with an initiative to make every public school classroom internet ready by the year number the concern was that minority youth who were not online would be unable to compete for jobs in the new millennium


today black and latino youth use media more than ever outpacing white and asian youth according to a recent study by north-western university but there a big difference in how they use media and that has created new challenges for bridging a divide that still exists


craig watkins is a professor at the university of texas who is with us now to explain his research on minority youth and what fuels this gap he joins us from austin texas welcome craig


craig watkins hi tony how are you


cox i am fine thank you let begin with this let define terms when we say digital divide what exactly do we mean and who are we talking about


watkins that is a great question you know i think about number years ago when we used the term digital divide we were talking largely about the question or the concern around access to technology fast forward about number or number years later to number and now when we talk about it i think it is less about access to technology and more about participation that is the quality of engagement what people are now doing with the technology that they have access to


cox you have commented before on reports about media use among minority youth reports that say they use media for example on average number hours a day thirteen first of all that is a startling amount of time does that capture all media being online being on cell phones or what


watkins you know i think the study that you are alluding to which was published i think about a year or so ago but it deals primarily with just a combination of different types of media platforms tv music media print video games online media and increasingly you know we know that mobile is becoming more and more part of young people media time as well

although i am not sure if the number hours that are quoted in this study actually account for the amount of time that young people are spending watching video and listening to music on their mobile phones


cox for example blacks on twitter it said in some of these reports that they are the biggest users by far disproportionately to their numbers in the population how do you explain that


watkins yeah and that is what i mean by sort of a shift i mean number years ago i mean this the idea right that african americans would be kind of on the front on the cutting edge a platform or a technology like twitter would have been inconceivable right

we would be having a very different conversation number years ago and now when we look at the landscape right latinos and african americans are just as likely to be on facebook just as likely to be using mobile devices just as likely to be using twitter and so now i think the question is not so much about access right getting to the technology but now about participation


cox if you are just joining us i am tony cox and you are listening to tell me more from npr news we are talking about the digital divide among young people the gap between whites and people of color and access to the internet we are joined today by craig watkins a sociology professor who specializes in digital youth culture

craig i want to go back to a point that you just made and talking about it is not so much a matter of access perhaps but a matter of participation are minority youth and i do not even know if this is a fair way to say it are they ahead or behind in terms of their participation


watkins yeah it is a fascinating question because if you define progress largely as using technology increasingly black and latino youth have caught up and in some situations even surpassed their white and more affluent counterparts we know for example that they are spending more time online or as much time online

again we know that they are using their mobile devices for example for a wider range of things so a much more robust activity around mobile devices listening to music playing games social networking those types of things but you know there a whole other sphere of technology behavior and technology used particularly in relation to young people

there is a community of young people who use technology not only right to sort of consume content but also to create content to produce content to become kind of manufacturers and producers of their own kind of information landscape

and those require very different kinds of skills what we call very different kinds of new media literacies and what we do not quite know is to what degree are those literacies distributed evenly across race and ethnicity and across class


cox give me an example of what you are talking about the kinds of creations that you are referring to


watkins we are working with a group of students this summer for example it is a four week program and they are essentially designing video games and the video game is for a client it is kind of getting the students you know thinking about and learning not only about game design technology but also about you know the environment and green technology and building sort of you know green based architecture

and this is a group of students who traditionally you know are not necessarily exposed to these kinds of opportunities exposed to these types of assignments the kids who are really on the cutting edge of technology again are using technology to create and design you know content


cox who are we talking about which kids are doing that


watkins that tends to track primarily along the lines of class and which in this country in some ways begins to intersect with race so let me just give you an example of a study that my colleague mimi ito and some of her colleagues produced about three or four years ago in a book called hanging out messing around and geeking out

and they discovered sort of two types of technology users young technology users there was the one group that they characterize as primarily using media to interact with their friends but then there was a whole different sort of community of kids who were primarily drawn to the internet for what they called interest based reasons

like they had a passionate hobby maybe it was a game maybe it was fan fiction maybe it was fashion and they were seeking out other people who had those kinds of interests and developing a kind of depth expertise and a kind of learning community a kind of learning ecology those kids tended to be kids who came from affluent communities you know rich social networks from you know very affluent school districts which tends to be white and asian

and the question that we now want to pursue and some follow up work that we are doing is are all kids accessing those kinds of opportunities are all kids accessing those kinds of online communities online spaces that really enrich and empower their participation in the digital world


cox what can be done to get more people involved in myriad ways of using the internet and digital media


watkins it seems to me that the richest and most promising attempts to do this are really kind of happening in the informal learning spaces so they are happening in after school programs they are happening in the summer camps summer workshops which is interesting and raises a whole other set of questions about why schools are not able to provide these kinds of opportunities

but i think it is happening right through community technology leaders i think it is happening through social entrepreneurs who have decided right that these issues are so important that the digital divide today is really about digital literacy right and how do we begin to create environments create spaces that encourage and support kids ability to develop the kinds of digital media skills that they will need in the number century in what i call kind of islands of kind of innovation right

it is happening you know maybe in a couple places you know here or there i am seeing it in washington i am seeing it in oakland here in austin in chicago i mean it is happening in a variety of places but it does not seem to be right a kind of cohesive or kind of coherent effort but one that is kind of scattered across different communities driven primarily by visionaries driven primarily by social entrepreneurs who have decided that it is a space that they want to step into a space that again schools have been inadequate in servicing


cox craig watkins is a professor at the university of texas who studies the social and digital media behavior of young people he joined us from austin texas craig thank you


watkins sure thank you



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ethical issues

ethical issues often relate to whether schools are providing students with equal access to technology gender equity issues arise when girls are treated differently than boys in terms of the use of and encouragement to use technology girls tend to enroll in fewer computer classes spend fewer hours on the computer either at home or at school and are less likely to choose majors in computer related fields than do boys for example in number only number percent of the students who took the advanced placement computer science exam were girls there are a number of factors that contribute to this gender difference including the limited number of female role models in computer related fields adults who especially encourage boys to use the computer and computer games and software that tends to targets boys interests more than that of girls


the digital divide is the division that exists between the information rich and the information poor advanced technologies and the internet in particular provide easy access to vast amounts of information digital inequities can exist along racial economic academic achievement low achieving versus high achieving classes and geographic rural urban and suburban lines a student in a rural school that lacks fast internet connections does not have the same access to information as a student near a major city


the digital divide also extends beyond the school more economically advantaged children usually have access to information sources through internet connections and microcomputers at home those who are more disadvantaged must rely upon limited school and public library resources minority students may be discouraged from accessing online content because of an absence of exposure to computers in general or because of a lack of racially and ethnically diverse information on the internet finally computers are often used as a reward for high achieving students leaving out those students with poorer academic records while some students are simply not encouraged to use technology to fuel their interest in academics



seconds out round two

the explosion of new web services such as blogs and wikis has led many to believe that the internet is now entering a second phase it is finally beginning to resemble a truly interactive learning tool says stephen hear



events in silicon valley have traditionally had a trickle down effect on teaching and learning but with the arrival of the internet and teachers who write blogs regularly this is changing one idea being put forward in the blogosphere is that we are experiencing the second phase of the development of the web or web number number with the explosion of new web services applications and business models that are helping to reshape the net



if the early version of the web took a top down approach to content which consisted mainly of standalone and static web pages that were hard to update web number number takes a more bottom up approach where web services and applications allow users to publish content without the need to write code and exploit the network potential to support greater social interaction and collaboration as a result we are seeing a renaissance of tim berners lee original vision of a read write web through the creation of what tim areilly a us internet pioneer who was among the first to popularise the web number number idea calls an architecture of participation



like the web itself the early promise of learning that of empowerment has not been fully realised the experience of learning for many has been no more than a hand out published online together with a simple multiple choice quiz hardly inspiring let alone empowering but by using these new web services learning has the potential to become far more personal social and flexible



rather than being based on cumbersome and often expensive virtual learning environments learning number number should adopt what david weinberger author and fellow at harvard berkman institute for internet and society calls a small pieces loosely joined approach combining the use of discrete but complimentary tools and web services based on open standards which can be made to work together many teachers are doing this through use of web logs or blogs a form of online micropublishing typically of personal thoughts and weblinks wikis web publishing software that lets users create and edit web pages using a standard web browser and other forms of social software as well as various digital media and devices like podcasting



personal publishing



blogs remove the technical barriers to writing and publishing online and the journal format encourages bloggers to keep a record of their own thinking over time blogs also facilitate critical feedback by letting readers add comments these could be from teachers students or the wider community



for students a blog can be used as a living record of their learning a place to pose questions publish work in progress or provide links to and comments on relevant web resources



teachers who are subject specialists may want to start their own subject based blog where they can provide up to date information and commentary on their subject area as well as posting questions and assignments and linking to relevant news stories and websites media studies teacher pete fraser runs one such blog using google free blogging service blogger com for his students at long road sixth form college in cambridge visit http longroadmedia blogspot com



collaborative publishing



a key theme of many web number number applications is that they harness the collective intelligence of users and this is particularly true of wikis as with blogs wiki software makes it possible to publish a website with very little technical knowledge but puts a greater emphasis on collaborative rather than personal publishing every wiki entry has an edit this page button so that users can not only add new content but make changes to existing pages



perhaps the best known use of a wiki is the web based encyclopedia wikipedia www wikipedia org which is authored and maintained by a thriving online community critics argue that because there is no central editor the validity and accuracy of its entries varies greatly in its defence the wiki community points out that if a user spots a mistake they are free to correct it for themselves and that any vandalism is usually eradicated within five minutes as an introduction to wikis why not have students perhaps as part of a history lesson research and write a missing entry then see how the wikipedia community evaluates that entry and what changes they make



folksonomy



folksonomy is another example of the way in which the web number number attempts to harness the collective intelligence of its users the word folksonomy refers to the collaborative way in which information is being categorised on the web instead of using a centralised form of classification users are encouraged to assign freely chosen keywords to pieces of information or data a process known as tagging web number number services that use tagging include those designed to allow users to publish and share various media such as photos www flickr com or videos www youtube com as well as most blog software where each entry can be assigned keywords



delicious http del icio us is a social bookmarks manager that allows users to create their own personal collection of weblinks and which because they are stored online can be accessed from any computer connected to the net each bookmark is given a short description and tagged with keywords and collections can be shared all teachers and students would benefit from using a social bookmarking service



media and devices



the use of digital media in schools has been around for years but the sharing of finished work has tended to be isolated within the school a central theme of web number number is to make publishing and sharing content as simple as possible together with the recent explosion of mobile media devices such as video capable mobile phones and mpnumber players see www ipodined org this means that teachers and students now have many more opportunities to publish and share digital media



content aggregation



perhaps the most important element of web number number is that it offers the kind of connectivity to bring all these disparate elements together for example using an online rss reader such as bloglines com it is possible to track and be alerted to new and relevant content across a range of web services and applications updated content could include a student new blog entry or comment changes to a project wiki newly published media or useful weblinks recently discovered by a teacher



it is this level of integration and participation that is driving the web number number revolution a phenomenon offering a very different approach to learning



stephen hear is a fellow for the national endowment for science technology and the arts www ohear net



why you need to use storytelling for learning
i am sure you have heard by now that storytelling can make learning more effective stories help us process and remember information perhaps they even touch a part of our consciousness associated with the magic and creativity of childhood
in my desire to become a better storyteller i attended a session on the subject while at the presentation summit a conference where the topics overlap surprisingly well with the interests of training professionals and learning specialists
here are the key points i gathered from a session titled the art of storytelling presented by jon thomas i modified them for learning experience designers as needed
number stories are the emotional glue that connects the audience to the message
much of what people remember from a learning experience are the feelings of the underlying message rather than a multitude of small facts which are better reserved for job aids stories are an important way to tap into the heart of the audience providing a channel for conveying a deeper message based on emotion
number information presentation should be constructed around a story
any kind of presentation whether it be online training or a live presentation will benefit from a story construction organizing information into a format with a beginning setting the stage middle the challenge and ending new reality can work for many topics
number people want to know about origins
when we watch or read about a superhero we always remember the person origins we know where they came from and the circumstances that created their super powers people are defined by their origins and people are curious about where people or fictional characters come from how they change and how they evolve include this type of information in your next story
number stories reshape knowledge into something meaningful
for centuries people have used stories to pass on knowledge when information is embedded in the context of a story it is transferred to a listener or reader in a unique way according to the presenter of this session new research shows that number of what we learn is consumed through storytelling
number stories make people care
when you know your audience their pains frustrations and joys your stories can reflect their emotions and experiences as learners begin to see themselves in the story and begin to identify with it they start to care nancy duarte author of resonate states that a story serves as a moment of emotional appeal
number stories transcend one current environment
good storytelling can transport learners out of their stuffy meeting rooms and offices into an adventurous world away from the workplace in this altered reality the mind becomes more open to perceiving and thinking in new ways this is an ideal position from which to learn
number stories are motivating
stories can motivate an audience toward a learning goal they are ideal for attitudinal training because when an audience is motivated they no longer need to be persuaded an encouraging story will inspire someone to take action
number people take time for stories
have you ever noticed that even the busiest of people will stop to listen to someone story or to tell one of their own stories are why people are drawn to novels and movies and gossip magazines if you want to maintain an audience attention you are more likely to do it through storytelling
number stories are more likely to be shared
because we are so attuned to stories people love to share them they are like hooks that draw people in as they are passed from one person to the next if you have any doubts check out the thousands of facebook stories this is where people share how they use facebook and the meaning it has in their life do you need to spread the word about something put it in a story and see if it gets shared
number stories give meaning to data
many people perceive data as meaningless numbers this happens when the data is disconnected to anything important in their experience but when the data is placed in the context of a story it comes alive one of the most well known examples of this is hans roling presentation below if you have not seen it yet take the four minutes to watch



number ways to learn in number
there are so many cool ways to learn online now the whole world is a school this list is meant for continuous learners and for procrastinators looking for distractions in the coming year
number learn through visual search engines
how would you like your search engine to show results in a collage spezify does just that it is a visual search engine that draws content from all over the web particularly social media sites your collage might show a book from amazon a youtube video and a page from a blog or web site you drag the results to navigate the page and then click the graphic to view the media although the results might not be as robust as with conventional search engines it is a lot more fun other visual search tools include viewzi kartnumber and search cube
number learn from word clouds
how can you search for something on a site when you are not sure what is there though word clouds are not new have you used them as a learning tool if you go to wordle and enter a site url or feed url you can use the word cloud as an index to the site look for words of interest and then search for those articles or pages
you can also use word clouds as the basis for writing a poem for studying another language and for comparing two pages of information janet clarey compared two articles from this site using word clouds you can also create tag clouds with tagcrowd and you probably figured there had to be a tweetcloud
number ask a question
although question and answer sites are not new on the web we are now at a point where there are enough experts online and enough a sites to make finding an answer more feasible some sites crowd source the answers while others use mentors to answer questions in their area of expertise these sites are also great for browsing through when you are in procrastination mode
here are a few amazon askville yahoo answers answerbag gotta mentor blurtit and wikianswers for answers to elearning related questions try one of the linkedin elearning groups with a high membership like the elearning guild or instructional design learning professionals group fyi you can always shoot me a question through the contact page and i will answer or crowd source it
number think visually
one of the best ways to learn is to look at things from a new perspective prezi can help you do this it is one of the most innovative tools for creating nonlinear presentations check out their showcase
expressing and organizing your ideas in mind maps is another approach to expanding or changing your perspective try these free online mind mapping tools some of which are collaborative mindmeister check out their public mind maps xmind and mindomo
number hang out with professors
we now have lots of options for taking free online college courses imagine a great lecture with no tests papers or deadlines that is right check out uc berkeley webcasts which has a mix of video and audio lectures and mit is open courseware which consists of pdf lecture notes and some multimedia presentations openlearn has a learning space with lecture notes and discussion forums you can also reuse and remix their content to create your own courses in their lab space other open university courses are at carnegie mellon and tufts university do not forget the lectures from university of oxford and stanford on itunesu
number watch documentaries
if you like to learn from documentaries you can catch some free ones at get docued free online documentaries and free documentaries
number tune in to big ideas
discuss watch and get inspired at some of the sites that promote new and innovative ideas you have probably seen the videos at ted but what about big think fora tv and ideas project
number learn through twitter
do you ever search through tweets to discover the latest resources and conversations real time search is very now for example i just searched for elearning i know i am boring and got directed to a great discussion about how to help learners get the most from elearning you can search directly on twitter but they say the results are less than stellar other real time search engines that get better reviews are twazzup tweetzi icerocket searches other social media too and tweetscan
number hop into a debate
learn about all sides of an issue through online debating debategraph uses a visualization tool to show the complexity and multiple aspects of world issues you can start at the gallery to pick an issue then select stream view the small print below to see the visualization you can then explore the issue and add your own viewpoint also check out debate org where you read the debates and vote on a winner
number create a mashup
mashups let you combine and remix information media content web applications and services making a mashup helps you perceive information in new ways and is a learning experience in itself two mashup platforms are pipes and scrapplet pipes is an aggregator tool for manipulating and remixing content and data from around the web scrapplet uses a drag and drop approach for mashing up content particularly from social media sites
how do you plan to learn online this year



technology in education current trends


susan williams


computers and internet connections are becoming widely available in schools and classrooms in number number percent of teachers in the united states had access to a computer in their schools and number percent had one or more computers in their classrooms at the same time internet connections were also widespread with number percent of schools and number percent of classrooms having access worldwide many countries are making the creation and diffusion of information and communications technology ict an important priority even in developing countries usage is increasing dramatically as ict becomes more widely available teachers and policymakers are turning their attention to the difficult task of understanding how best to integrate this technology into learning environments


ict can be used in many different ways and how it is integrated into educational settings depends largely on teachers instructional goals and strategies changes in the goals of education during the latter part of the twentieth century coupled with increases in the amount and type of available technology has created changes in teachers use of technology in the numbers and early numbers the primary goal of instruction was to have students memorize important information and procedures instruction was teacher led and dominated by lectures followed by practice using worksheets and short answer tests students worked alone to complete assignments and when help was needed they consulted parents teachers or textbooks for assistance if computers were available in classrooms during this time period their use mirrored this dominant mode of instruction that is they were primarily used to present passages of text and test students comprehension and memory for information contained in the passages


research on learning has demonstrated the shortcomings of this type of instruction students often forget memorized information or they fail to apply it in situations where it would be useful they need help in connecting new information to what they already know and in extending and applying their knowledge to new problems researchers in the early twenty first century believe that students learn best when they work to combine their own past experience with new information in order to solve problems that are personally meaningful to them


in addition to changes in the understanding of how students learn there have been substantial changes in what educators and policymakers believe students should know how to do the exponential growth in information since number has shifted the purpose of education information has become abundant and easily accessible rather than reading the unified perspective typically presented by a textbook students have access to many different points of view instead of memorizing students now need assistance in learning how to find and select relevant information for problems they need to solve they need to learn how to collaborate with others as they solve these problems and communicate their solutions to their teachers and to the world beyond their classroom


along with changes in what students should know and an increased understanding of how they learn new approaches to instruction are being advocated instead of listening to lectures and memorizing facts and procedures educational reforms suggest that students learn best in the context of solving complex realistic problems traditional computer assisted instruction cai and many integrated learning systems ilss deliver precisely this form of instruction in a range of subject matter areas typically computers dedicated to ilss are clustered in computer laboratory settings rather than being located in individual teacher classrooms students who acquire new information as they solve problems are able to understand its usefulness remember it and use it to solve problems in the future solving interesting problems is more likely to stimulate a student interest than memorizing isolated facts and this interest has been shown to positively affect learning students solving real problems view their efforts as real work and have a sense of purpose and value


organizing instruction around problem solving makes new demands on teachers including locating meaningful problems and projects and providing students with the resources and guidance for solving them teachers are finding that ict can help them meet these demands and they are integrating it into their instruction in many new and exciting ways


technology and new forms of instruction


using technology to find and represent educational problems one major challenge for teachers interested in problem based learning is locating problems that are appropriate for their students and for the topics that they need to learn problems must be complex enough to support sustained exploration and encourage collaboration and they should have multiple interrelated parts to develop students ability to break problems down and organize their solutions representing and communicating such complex problem situations is an important function of technology unlike problems that occur in the real world technology can incorporate graphics video animation and other tools to create problems that can be explored repeatedly multimedia representations are easier to understand than problems presented as text one example of using technology to present problems is the mathematical problem solving series the adventures of jasper woodbury each problem in the jasper series is presented as a video story that ends when the main character experiences a problem that can be solved using math using technology that can be easily searched and paused for inspection students search the video looking for clues to help them understand and solve the problem in one episode students explore a variety of transportation methods and routes to rescue a wounded bald eagle they compare their solution plans and develop ways to determine which plan is best


microworlds are another type of technology used to present problems one example is thinkertools a computer based learning environment that simulates aspects of newtonian physics using the thinkertools microworld students can manipulate various aspects of the environment observe the results and attempt to discover the rules that govern this simulation


internet and videoconferencing technology allow students to participate in projects sponsored by researchers around the world in the jason project satellite and internet technology bring classroom students into direct real time contact with leading scientists conducting scientific research expeditions around the globe each year the project explores a different location in order to help students understand the earth biological and geological development some of the past expeditions have studied deep sea archaeology compared shallow and deep ocean habitats studied plate tectonics and volcanoes and compared conditions experienced in space and under the oceans in addition to observing research activities students are able to ask questions and get immediate answers from the scientists


whatever type of technology is used an important goal is to create problem representations that are interactive and under the learner control the student creates a plan for investigating the problem and the technology creates an environment that makes flexible exploration possible


using technology to find educational resources a second function of technology in problem based learning environments is locating information needed to solve problems or do other kinds of research in the past teachers attempting a problem based curriculum felt the need to limit problems to those for which they had expertise or the local library had resources now the world wide web brings a seemingly endless amount of information on almost any subject and it is possible for students to choose topics based on personal interest rather than availability of resources

internet research projects are gaining rapidly in popularity in the spring of number number percent of teachers surveyed and number of those with high speed internet connections reported they had assigned internet research tasks for their students during the school year use of the internet to gather information for solving problems sometimes resembles a modern version of library research in which students gather and synthesize information from published reports despite the fact that the task seems traditional the characteristics of this new medium require special skills for students the sheer volume of information allows students to study almost any topic but also makes it more difficult to locate precisely the right information from among the thousands or even millions of sites that might be located in addition the ease of publishing and accessing materials on the internet increases the likelihood that students will encounter inaccurate or biased information as a result students must learn new strategies for conducting searches and evaluating the information that they retrieve


in addition to its function as a source of information the internet capability for communication and interaction provides many innovative educational opportunities many times students are unable to find or understand the available resources in such cases teachers are also turning to ict to link their students with mentors and subject matter experts in one such project fourth and fifth grade students in mcallen texas compared the experiences of their families on the texas la frontera to colonial life in the original thirteen colonies with the help of the director of a historic preservation center and museum in fredericksburg virginia


students carrying out scientific investigations can use the internet to make observations and collect data for example fourth and fifth graders in california collected insects and sent them to san diego state university using two way audio and video connecting the school and the university scientists guided the students in using an electron microscope to examine their specimens technology has made it possible to collect data from places students could never visit in recent projects high school students explored the floor of the monterey bay by studying video from remotely operated robots and middle school students were given time to use the hubble telescope


students also use technology to collect data in their schools and communities for example using handheld computers outfitted with various types of probes students can monitor the water quality at various locations in nearby streams or lakes by transmitting their individual readings to a laptop computer in a field laboratory they can quickly graph their data and visually compare readings


using technology to summarize and present findings in the past students memorized and used formulas and models created by others to solve problems students often used these formulas especially in the early stages of learning with little understanding in the early twenty first century computer tools provide the opportunity for students to construct and test their own models using tools such as spreadsheets or concept maps this type of instruction deepens students understanding of abstract concepts and allows these concepts to be taught at an earlier age


once students have summarized their data and other information they typically communicate their findings to others in the past this meant writing a report to be read by the teacher writing reports is still the most widespread use of ict with number percent of teachers assigning students word processing tasks in addition to text students also use computer created graphics video and animations to communicate their ideas

the teacher is not the only audience for students presentations students are frequently expected to present their work and receive feedback from their peers and the world outside their classroom whether they are using presentation software to accompany a face to face presentation or developing materials to put on the web the trend is for students to be able to communicate and defend their work to a broad audience this increases students perception that problem based learning is real work for real audiences


using technology for collaboration and distance education there are many opportunities for individual students to use technology to enhance their learning these include online courses that provide students in remote locations with opportunities for customized curriculum and advanced placement courses these courses are conducted entirely online and offer asynchronous interaction among faculty and students because they allow students to participate anytime and from anywhere online courses are becoming increasingly popular among postsecondary students whose job and personal commitments do not allow them to meet a regular class schedule


opportunities for interaction with peers from other countries can also contribute to knowledge and understanding of other cultures ict makes this type of communication possible for anyone with internet access for example the kidlink project encourages students up to age fifteen to use the internet to build a global network of friends kidlink participants discuss issues ranging from how to make and keep friends to war and peace


teachers integration of technology in instruction


research has shown that learning to incorporate technology into instruction occurs over time and follows a pattern initially teachers incorporate new technologies into the things that they traditionally do then after observing changes in their students including improvements in behavior absenteeism collaboration and independent learning teachers gradually begin to experiment and use technology to teach in new ways it often takes four years or more from initial attempts until changes in student learning can be observed


research indicates that change at all levels will be necessary to bring about widespread and effective use of technology successful programs must devote a substantial portion of their budget to extensive professional development and technical support they must encourage a culture of collaboration in which teachers work together to explore more effective uses of technology and they must modify their assessment systems to measure changes such as deeper understanding and improved problem solving that result from effective technology use


future trends


advances in hardware and software have the potential to bring about fundamental changes in how technology is integrated and even in education itself computers formerly tethered to desktops by cables are being rapidly replaced by wireless laptop and palmtop models that free students to move about the school collect share and graph data on field trips and communicate their whereabouts and progress to teachers and parents

monitoring students independent learning in these flexible environments will be supported by sophisticated new assessment technologies that will help teachers collect and analyze student data and make instructional decisions these tools will continually assess students work and provide feedback to them and their teachers such assessment has the potential to make time consuming standardized testing unnecessary and to personalize the curriculum for every student ubiquitous well integrated technology tools will bring educators closer to redefining the educational enterprise and providing customized just in time solutions for the learning needs of adults and children